Stranger things have happened, but not much.
Pop music's king of strange, "Weird Al" Yankovic, lands atop the Billboard 200 albums chart this week, with sales of 104,000 copies in the week ending July 20, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That makes it the first comedy album to reach No. 1 on the chart since 1963.
This week's top four are all new releases, with Mandatory followed by Jason Mraz's Yes! entering at No. 2 (102,000 copies), rock band Rise Against's The Black Market at No. 3 (53,000) and Kidz Bop Pop's Kidz Bop 26 at No. 4 (46,000).
The indomitable Frozen soundtrack marks its 30th straight week in the top five, though dips three spots from last week to No. 5, with sales of 43,000. The last album to enjoy a longer reign was Adele's blockbuster 21, which concluded a 39-week run in December 2011.Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour and Ed Sheeran's x also fall, respectively landing at No. 6 (35,000, down 17%) and No. 7 (24,000, down 32%). The Now 50 compilation dips from No. 7 to No. 8, despite a slight rise in sales — 4%, to 23,000 — and Trey Songz's Trigga down from No. 4 to No. 9 with nearly 23,000, down 35%.
The top 10 closes with a surging album: Blake Shelton's Based On a True Story…, which jumps from No. 63 to No. 10 with sales of with 22,000 — up 386%. The album was sale-priced in the iTunes Store last week for $5.99 and grew by 1,000% in overall download sales.
